2024-09-02 12:45:02
LAS VEGAS — Brian Kelly slammed his fist on the table, and his voice raised in anger.
Kelly was upset after his seven previous losses as LSU’s head coach, but never as much as he was Sunday night following a 27-20 loss to No. 23 Southern Cal.
“We’re sitting here AGAIN talking about the same things, about not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put them away,” Kelly said. “But what we’re doing on the sideline is feeling like the game’s over, and I’m so angry about it that I gotta do something about it.
“I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach, and I got to coach them better because it’s unacceptable for us not to have found a way to win this football game. It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy.”
“I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach … it’s unacceptable for us not to have found a way to win this football game.”
Brian Kelly says he’s “angry” with his team after the loss to USC. pic.twitter.com/vloYGyKDh2
— ESPN (@espn) September 2, 2024
Kelly’s frustration came out multiple times in his press conference. No. 13 LSU lost its fifth straight season opener, a streak that spans two head coaches. Kelly has not won the first game in three years as LSU’s coach.
“I think this is the first time since I’ve been here that I’m pretty angry at our football team,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he was upset with LSU’s lack of complementary football, unsportsmanlike penalties that led to points and how the players handled themselves when they had a chance to take control of the game in the second half.
Trailing 13-10 in the third quarter, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw a 13-yard touchdown to wide receiver Aaron Anderson to give LSU its first lead of the game.
LSU forced a punt and a turnover on downs on USC’s next two possessions, but it punted twice.
After the turnover on downs, senior safety Major Burns was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Senior receiver Kyren Lacy had been called for unsportsmanlike conduct during a touchdown celebration in the first half.
“The thing that is most concerning for me are the personal fouls,” Kelly said. “The penalties that are selfish. Both of them led to scores. They’re undisciplined penalties, and they fall back on me. We take pride in running a disciplined program, but we have clearly not done a good enough job there because it impacted the game.”
After forcing the turnover on downs, LSU went three and out for the second time all game. USC quickly retook the lead with a three-play, 64-yard drive. It scored on a free play as quarterback Miller Moss took advantage of an offsides penalty to throw a 28-yard touchdown.
The Tigers put together a nine-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Damian Ramos, tying the game with 1:47 remaining. But Moss moved USC deep into LSU territory, and running back Woody Marks scored with eight seconds left.
“It’s clear that when we get up in a game, we do not know how to handle ourselves,” Kelly said. “You gotta have a killer instinct in this game. You gotta put teams away. We had an opportunity to put this team away, and we get complacent. We make more mistakes when we’re ahead instead of having a better focus and a steely eyed killer instinct. It’s disappointing.”
